Noida, January 18, 2026:
The death of a 27-year-old software engineer after his car plunged into a water-filled ditch in Noida’s Sector 150 has sparked serious allegations of negligence and delayed rescue efforts, with eyewitnesses and family members claiming that authorities failed to act decisively despite multiple emergency agencies being present at the scene.

The victim, Yuvraj Mehta, who worked as a software engineer in Gurugram, drowned late Saturday night after his car broke through the boundary wall of a roadside drain and fell into what was later identified as a waterlogged basement of an under-construction building. The incident reportedly occurred around midnight amid dense fog and low visibility. Mehta’s body was recovered only on Monday morning, nearly two days after the accident.

What has intensified public outrage is not just the tragic accident itself, but the harrowing accounts of those who witnessed Mehta’s final moments and the questions they have raised about the pace, preparedness, and execution of the rescue operation.

“He kept pleading for help”

Moninder, a delivery agent who was among the first civilians to attempt a rescue, described what he called “clear negligence on the authorities’ behalf.” According to him, Mehta remained trapped inside his submerged vehicle for a prolonged period, calling out for help before his voice eventually fell silent.

“The accident happened around midnight in heavy fog. I reached the spot at about 1.45 am,” Moninder said. “For around one hour and forty-five minutes, he kept pleading for help. He was saying, ‘Please save me, save me in any way possible.’”

Moninder alleged that although police personnel, fire brigade teams, and members of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were present at the site, none of them entered the water to try to reach the trapped man.

“They kept saying the water is too cold. They said there are iron rods inside and it’s dangerous to go in,” Moninder claimed. “Police, SDRF, fire brigade — everyone was there, but no one helped him.”

A civilian’s desperate attempt

By the time Moninder arrived, he believes Mehta may have already drowned. Still, he said he urged the rescue personnel to let him attempt a search himself.

“The boy had probably drowned about ten minutes before I reached,” he said. “I told them to come out of the water and said I would go inside.”

According to Moninder, he removed his clothes, tied a rope around his waist, and entered the water-filled basement alone. “I went at least 50 metres inside the water and searched for around 30 minutes,” he said. Despite the effort, he could not locate either the car or Mehta’s body.

“Even by 5.30 in the morning, neither the boy had been recovered nor the vehicle brought out,” Moninder added. “After that, I went back home. I don’t know what happened later.”

His account has since circulated widely, fuelling anger and grief among residents and on social media, where many have questioned why trained rescue teams did not act when a civilian felt compelled to risk his own life.

Father’s last phone call with son

Mehta’s father, Raj Kumar Mehta, recalled the horror of receiving a phone call from his son shortly after the accident. “My son himself called me while he was trapped,” he told Hindustan Times. “He said, ‘Papa, I am stuck. The car has fallen into the drain.’”

The father rushed to the spot but found himself helpless. “The water was very deep. I could not do anything,” he said. “The police did reach there, but they did not have a swimmer with them. If there had been a trained swimmer, someone could have reached him.”

In his police complaint, Mehta’s father also alleged systemic negligence, stating that residents of Sector 150 had repeatedly requested local authorities to install proper barricades, reflectors, and warning signs near the drain. According to him, no action was taken despite these warnings.

Conflicting timelines

While officials insist that emergency services responded promptly, friends of the deceased and eyewitnesses have disputed the official timeline.

Pankaj, a friend of Mehta, claimed that rescue teams arrived much later than stated. “The teams came only around 2.30 am and could not even enter the water till about 3.20 am,” he said, contradicting official claims that rescue operations were underway soon after midnight.

Police, however, have maintained that they acted responsibly under difficult circumstances. According to officials, Mehta was driving a Grand Vitara and lost control while taking a turn, causing the vehicle to ram into the boundary wall of a drain and fall into the flooded basement of a vacant, under-construction plot.

Authorities defend their actions

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Greater Noida, Hemant Upadhyay said that the depth of the water, combined with darkness and dense fog, made rescue operations extremely risky.

“We made all efforts to rescue him, but due to the depth of the water collected in the under-construction vacant plot, it was difficult to save him,” Upadhyay said. “We were afraid that if someone entered the water, there could be more casualties. It could have been worse.”

Chief Fire Officer Pradeep Kumar Chaubey said rescue teams were present at the site until around 5 am. He added that teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), SDRF, and the fire department were involved in the operation.

Police officials also stressed that sending untrained personnel or civilians into such conditions could have resulted in additional deaths.

Questions for civic authorities

Beyond the rescue operation itself, the incident has raised serious questions about civic planning and safety in rapidly developing areas like Sector 150. The presence of an unbarricaded, water-filled pit near a public road, particularly during winter fog conditions, has drawn sharp criticism from residents.

AK Arora, general manager (civil) of the Noida Authority, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on whether safety measures had been overlooked at the site.

As the family mourns the loss of a young professional with his life ahead of him, the tragedy has become a flashpoint for broader concerns about infrastructure safety, emergency preparedness, and accountability. For many, the haunting words attributed to rescuers — “the water is too cold” — have come to symbolise what they see as an unacceptable failure to act when every minute mattered.

Whether the allegations of delay and negligence will translate into official inquiries or accountability remains to be seen. For now, Yuvraj Mehta’s death stands as a grim reminder of how lapses in safety and response can turn a survivable accident into a fatal tragedy.